Had my first doctor’s appointment today; a week and a half after surgery. He carefully unraveled the gauze around the splint his team put on me in the operating room while revealing some nasty blood stains that caused me to turn away from the view of my own appendage. I don’t like blood. I don’t […]
Glorious ocean view private room and the sunset taken from my hospital bed. Hoag Hospital sits on the bluffs in Newport Beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In the north end of this Southern California playground that has captured the country’s attention through the silly TV program “The O.C.”, the hospital is the tallest structure around. […]
When I woke up from the anesthesia I was back in my hospital room with my roommates. A crowd of visitors had gathered by the elderly man in the corner diagonally from me. Last night my moans of pain didn’t bother him as he muttered and spoke in his sleep. But he didn’t speak Spanish. […]
I wake up to the sound of water splashing on the floor of my hospital room. A squatty lady in a smock holding a bucket of water hanging on her arm flicks water over the floor with her other hand. She leaves and quickly returns with a mop which she pushes through the room, under […]
In a state somewhere between awake and sleep three hours had passed. The rain, thunder and lightning added dramatic effect to my sprawled body with my left leg in a cardboard box splint as I laid in the Tica Tica medical clinic. Still no ambulance. In a town with one telephone, one restaurant and no […]
What can you say about the unexpected? Sometimes such events bring joy. Other times pain. The unexpected. Whether good or bad, smart or stupid, ugly or beautiful or even happy or sad, unexpected events evoke undeniable emotion. Today, little did I know that after embarking on a early start under blue skies and bidding Potisi […]
I’m getting tired of the rain. I know just a days ride away is perhaps the driest place on the planet – the Atacama Desert in Chile. Though I imagine the scenery will be much like northern Peru – flat, uninteresting and fast. But to the south volcanoes, salt flats, flamingoes, hot springs await for […]
Pouring over maps, weather forecasts and intelligence culled from other travelers, internet sites and local people Jeremiah and I decide to make a break for the Salar de Uyuni, the highest and largest salt flat in the world. By taking this route we’ll have a chance to spend a day or two in Potosí, the […]
Sure you don’t have any money, gringo! Pull over there and we’ll talk. A problem we encountered while roaming the streets of Copacabana on Lake Titicaca’s southern shore would come back to haunt us as we made the cruise from the lake, through the snow and on the notorious ferry had to do with cash: […]
Sitting on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca Copacabana is a small town of about 50,000 people. Surrounded by hills a few streets tumble down to the lakeside. The main drag is littered with both market stalls, local shops and restaurants and hostels catering to the budget tourist. It’s here that I’ve seen more backpacking […]
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